Biochar - does it work?
- Thread starter DartmoorEwe
- Start date
Danllan
Member
- Location
- Sir Gar / Carms
What's it from, how thick will you have it and have you previous experience with it?
Last edited:
- Location
- Yelverton, UK
We do the same with the sheep. Each bucket of fine charcoal is added to the bedding in the sheep house and every time they come in they charge it up. I was mucking it out today - smells good.
Our biochar is made from wood chip from sustainable forests! I put this load down about 5-6 inches I use it everywhere under chickens any planting around the farm in the garden is where I've notice better plant growth, under the sheep worked well for some reason I had less feet problems and its good at soaking up the ammonia smells. It all goes into the muck spreader with more char and water with Ems added and left to soak to allow the new char to be charged. Watching a programme on you tube (Living Web Farms) got me interested. A good starting point.
New Puritan
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
- Location
- Yelverton, UK
Do you dry the wood chip before you cook it? I was thinking of storing some in an IBC cage for a couple of months ... have you tried that? Can you think of a better way?
Yes the wood needs to be as dry as possible so they say. We leave the logs air dry outside and chip when needed it costs nothing but time. To produce bulk biochar I'm thinking of trying the Kon-Tiki method dug into the ground.
- Location
- Worcestershire
It's a bit short notice but this event might be of interest:
The objective for the day is to explore the potential for biochar, to discuss the merit of carrying out further on-farm trials over the next year or so, and start to tease out what those trials might look like and where they might take place.
This event is free to attend but advanced booking is essential.
Agenda
10.00 Refreshments
10.30 Welcome
An introduction to biochar with why it’s interesting
Jerry Alford, Arable and Soils Advisor, Soil Association
11.15 Investigating Biochar
What we know so far and what we don’t
Dr Francis Rayns – Research Fellow, Coventry University
11.45 Testing biochar
Exploring its potential and setting up a basic trial on farm
12.30 Lunch
Enjoy a chat over a complimentary lunch
13.00 Close
Tue 28 November 2017
10:00 – 13:00 GMT
Agri room (Room MOO5)
Pershore College
Avonbank
Pershore
WR10 3JP
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bioc...on-soil-and-animal-health-tickets-40031742018
The objective for the day is to explore the potential for biochar, to discuss the merit of carrying out further on-farm trials over the next year or so, and start to tease out what those trials might look like and where they might take place.
This event is free to attend but advanced booking is essential.
Agenda
10.00 Refreshments
10.30 Welcome
An introduction to biochar with why it’s interesting
Jerry Alford, Arable and Soils Advisor, Soil Association
11.15 Investigating Biochar
What we know so far and what we don’t
Dr Francis Rayns – Research Fellow, Coventry University
11.45 Testing biochar
Exploring its potential and setting up a basic trial on farm
12.30 Lunch
Enjoy a chat over a complimentary lunch
13.00 Close
Tue 28 November 2017
10:00 – 13:00 GMT
Agri room (Room MOO5)
Pershore College
Avonbank
Pershore
WR10 3JP
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bioc...on-soil-and-animal-health-tickets-40031742018
Bootneck
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
This all sounds really interesting. Where can I find information about building a simple charcoal burner to make my own charcoal and biochar? Any specific books or web pages?
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
How simple do you like?
If you Google TLUD then you should find YouTube videos of how to make an oil drum into one.
That's all I have
Old McDonald
Member
- Location
- Harray, Orkney
Sorry for the long delay in responding, but this is the first time I have logged in since you tagged me. I finished harvesting (olives apart from small scale household crops of kiwi, peanuts and sweet potatoes) two hours before the rain started. There is a lot of other work in addition to the actual picking, but the pressure is off. Very pleased to have beaten the rain.
My idea is partly as you suggest - that N fixing by the lupins will help the C:N ratio, but a lot more besides that. First it is a way to make use of the small prunings - everybody else just burns them. Next they are laid alongside a fence that has a stoned and drainage pipe ditch on the other side, with the land rising away from the ditch on the far side. I am buildidng up the ground with the prunings so that I will have a ditch again, but at a higher level. At present the land on the side with the prunings becomes waterlogged after heavy rains as it is below the top level of the original ditch. Hope that all makes sense.
I will eventually use the area with the prunings as a farm track*. It will not be cultivated so the speed of breakdown, or even lack of breakdown is of no consequence, although I am extremely interested to see if I could do the same on cultivated land. My suspicion is that the prunings would need to be chipped prior to spreading - which is what I did the first year, but not chipping saves a lot of time and effort. Remember the olive prunings have large quantities of leaves attached to them and the volume of chips/leaves is enormous compared with bare branch prunings.
I used primarily lupins as they self-seed and the seed is big enough not to become lost amongst the un-chipped prunings. Broad beans would be even better the first year, but expensive. Vetch is a good candidate after the first year, and self-seeds very easily. Also lupin is basically a winter crop so no irrigation needed. I think I will probably throw some Black-eyed Peas on next summer too though. They grow on very little moisture. I might try some more lupins in late winter/early spring. They will germinate but may die back before setting viable seed. I do not know.
*It is an ancient system to lay tree branches in wet areas when road building and then build the road over them. I have only seen pine tree branches used by highways authorities - both in the UK and Australia.
Danllan
Member
- Location
- Sir Gar / Carms
Glad to see you back, was wondering what you were up to. I share your relief when I just beat the rain to get my not-so-glamourous grass in.
I've used branches for tracks many times, it works best where they nearly always stay either wet or dry - it's regularly changing conditions that makes them disintegrate. Chipping is fine if you have some sort of kerb or bank to keep it in, otherwise forget about it.
In Zim we used Blue Gum trimmings and thinnings to make a ford / causeway just below a dam, it was about ten feet wide and maybe sixty feet long; in the middle it was about two feet thick, down to maybe eight inches at the sides. It was permanently wet and lasted well enough if the top layer was replenished now and then. Have also used fascines a fair bit, a really good way to get a cheap or temporary crossing over a ditch but allow water to flow.
Avoid getting rocks or large stones in amongst the wood, it gets trashed very quickly if you do. Mud and clay are good and help a lot, leaves are fine because they fill up the interstices too. Here in the UK I've used hazel and chestnut for stuff intended to last. Willow is alright too and lasts longer than you might expect.
That reminds me of a place I saw in Norfolk, or Suffolk..., anyway, a fellow had planted willows very close together along either side of a wet track and the growth was cut and placed upon the track raising it up and being kept there by the planted stocks.
Maybe some relevance in this.
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/times-letter-future-subsidies.201288/
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/times-letter-future-subsidies.201288/
Old McDonald
Member
- Location
- Harray, Orkney
The two highways authorities that I knew of were using the branches in a wet area. They dug out a decent depth (I was not on the engineering side so do not know the details) and backfilled with branches, then began the normal sub layers and finshing - tarmac in the UK and compacted natural ground in Australia.
My own situation is that it will be waterlogged from time to time in winter and suffer the usual Med summer. It will evenutally break down I think, and that does not bother me. I am building it higher than surrounding ground and as I said, I will use it (rarely) as the track around a very small field. Eventually it will be incorporated back into the field. When I have used up the available space in this way, I might chip to be able to incorporate the prunings into the soil. Just an idea at this stage. Previous use of chippings has been as a mulch around trees. Chipping takes a lot of time.
- Location
- Yelverton, UK
So biochar and charcoal are all the same stuff; the difference is size. I want to sell the charcoal for BBQs and keep the biochar. At the moment we are sieving charcoal after it is cooked but that is not perfect as some large and long bits fall through and some twiggy bits don't. I would prefer to grade it before we cook it but after the source material (tree brash) has gone through a shredder or branch logger and preferably sort by density.
Has anyone got any ideas of something that might be able to sort branch loggings (big wood chips) by density? I'm imagining some sort of counter current blower using air to divert the light stuff away while heavy stuff falls through.
Has anyone got any ideas of something that might be able to sort branch loggings (big wood chips) by density? I'm imagining some sort of counter current blower using air to divert the light stuff away while heavy stuff falls through.
Trommel?
Some interesting stuff in this video,especially the bale wrapper at the end.
Fowler VF
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
Biochar also being produced in the UK as a by product of wood gasification. Quite a few farms doing this, some spreading to land and some are scratching their heads as to what to do with it. We produce biochar pellets off the back end of our units, otherwise its a loose dusty powder. Happy to talk with anyone who wants to know more or wants some material for trials. Can find you some of our stuff or probably find some near to you as I deal with a lot of the UK gasification plants.
A long time ago I did work on zeolite compounds for adsorption of nitrogen and other nutrients for slow release. Biochar works in similar fashion and as has been said previously provides suitable micro-pores for beneficial bacteria and fungi. Which is where I think a lot of the benefits probably lie. In similar vein there has been work done on biochar being used to "host" the types of bacteria that work in AD plants:
http://www.biomassmagazine.com/arti...-benefit-anaerobic-digestion-of-animal-manure
A long time ago I did work on zeolite compounds for adsorption of nitrogen and other nutrients for slow release. Biochar works in similar fashion and as has been said previously provides suitable micro-pores for beneficial bacteria and fungi. Which is where I think a lot of the benefits probably lie. In similar vein there has been work done on biochar being used to "host" the types of bacteria that work in AD plants:
http://www.biomassmagazine.com/arti...-benefit-anaerobic-digestion-of-animal-manure
woodworm
Member
- Location
- Thetford Norfolk
Biochar and charcoal are not the same. Biochar will not leave you with black hands when you touch/hold it and is created in a slightly different way to charcoal with oils being taken off during the production process.
Biochar when added at a 2% ratio to chicken litter will absorb much of the ammonia produced in the poultry shed reducing the incidence of bronchial infections/diseases and also hock burn. Overall the health of the flock increases dramatically leading to higher growth rates, lower mortality and higher profitability of the operation.
Biochar when added at a 2% ratio to chicken litter will absorb much of the ammonia produced in the poultry shed reducing the incidence of bronchial infections/diseases and also hock burn. Overall the health of the flock increases dramatically leading to higher growth rates, lower mortality and higher profitability of the operation.
- Location
- Yelverton, UK
I can make charcoal. Can I adapt that process to make biochar?